Tuesday, February 28, 2012

It seems that the China Second Artillery Corps is buying this heavy commercial truck ("12x12" 90 tons, or "14x14" 105 tons) for more than just transporting lump of coal -- they are now using it for moving ice cream cones.

Sunday, February 26, 2012

In the past few days, Chinese forumers are busy speculating which operational unit is getting a J-10 upgrade from photos J-10s undergo final flight evel out of Chengdu. Also noted is that this latest batch of J-10 features two J-10s twin-seaters, a SOP for any new J-10 Regiment.

Also featured is J-20 flying around in circles, something no one seems to care anymore

Mobile Land Systems (MLS), a South African armoured vehicle manufacturer established last year, says it has a contract worth R40 million to manufacture 11 mine-resistant armour protected (MRAP) vehicles in conjunction with a Chinese company associated with the People's Liberation Army and transfer know-how to the east-Asian giant.

MLS CE Dewald Hattingh says indications are that China may need as many as 10 000 MRAP vehicles to cover their internal needs and equip peacekeeping missions. The PLA is the largest military in the world mustering some three million soldiers, sailors and airmen, of whom some 2.5 million are in full-time service. It is said to operate over 8500 main battle tanks but just over 1000 infantry combat vehicles and 3500 armoured personnel carrier of various designs – and none mine protected.

Hattingh says he was invited by Poly Technologies to talks on the fringes of the DSEi defence exhibition in London in September last year. “After negotiations and a formulated RfP [request for proposal], we drafted a MoU [Memorandum of Understanding] on the 14th of September 2009 in London. I changed the design to accommodate the special requests for China and after a few visits to Beijing and the Chinese industry, the design was signed off,” Hattingh says.

Poly Technologies decided on Changan Industries, a major manufacturer of vehicles and ammunition in China, as MLS' Chinese manufacturing partner. Eight engineers visited South Africa in the first quarter of the year and some changes were made to the design and finally signed off. During this visit of three weeks, two hulls were build and the process demonstrated to the visiting engineers.

MLS next sent a prototype hull and component parts to Changan's Chong Qing facility and a team consisting of three South African engineers led by Tos Visser followed to assemble and transfer skills to their Chinese counterparts. The South Africans stayed for six weeks. Andre van Eeden chief designer at MLS partner Laser Sprint also visited China for a week to oversee aspects of the the process. “The first prototype vehicle was a huge success and a major achievement if one takes the distances and language barriers into consideration,” Hattingh says.

Hattingh notes Poly Technologies will be sending more engineers to be trained in the MRAP manufacturing process. Nine more vehicles will be part-manufactured in South Africa under the contract and exported to China in kit form for assembly there. Changan will take over manufacture at that point and is licenced to build 289 more vehicles. “We are committed to give close support and quality control assistance to secure our royalties,” Hattingh says. After that intellectual property will be handed over to Changan against a fee. “Our commitment is to assist with transfering of skills, providing parts and constant support for the project.”

Thursday, December 17, 2009

EC175/Z-15 performes its maiden flight.

The EC175, the latest member of the Eurocopter range, today performed its official maiden flight in the skies above Marignane. At the controls were Alain Di Bianca, Eurocopter Experimental Test Pilot, as well as Michel Oswald and Patrick Bremont, Flight Test Engineers. Officials, industrial partners, launch customers and Eurocopter employees were all on hand for the event. This newest addition to the Eurocopter family in the 7-metric-ton class has been developed and manufactured in cooperation with the China Aeronautics Industries Group Corp. (AVIC), a longstanding Eurocopter partner.

"It's an immense pleasure to see the EC175 soaring through the skies," declared Eurocopter CEO Lutz Bertling. "This helicopter was developed in close cooperation with our customers to ensure it would be perfectly suited to their needs—particularly in terms of safety and comfort. This is the product everyone's been waiting for on the civil market. I would like to congratulate and thank our colleagues from China, all our personnel who invested so much time and effort in this project, and, of course, our industrial partners. Their combined efforts have made it possible for the EC175 to perform its maiden flight right on schedule, that’s to say exactly four years after the program was launched, which is a real technological wizardry. "

The new generation EC175 has a multirole design and can carry out a wide scope of civil missions. It slots perfectly into the Eurocopter range between the AS365 Dauphin (4/5 metric tons) and the AS332/EC225 Super Puma (9/11 metric tons) families. It benefits from a mix of proven and advanced technologies, making it a very performing and reliable helicopter. Depending on its configuration, it can hold up to 16 passengers. A total of 114 EC175s have already been ordered by 14 different customers. Certification of the EC175 by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is slated for 2011, and the first deliveries are scheduled to follow in 2012. Eurocopter expects to sell 800 EC175s over the next twenty years, creating nearly 2000 new direct and indirect jobs.

Cooperation
The EC175 program was launched on December 5, 2005. The helicopter was developed in cooperation with Chinese industry in just four years thanks to innovative new computing tools that offer major time savings. The work teams, separated by some 10,000 km, have been working together under the aegis of the French and Chinese governments. Their cooperation has been exemplary, and has benefitted from 30 years of close ties between the partners, first through the Dauphin and then through the EC120.

During the development phase, an average of 50 Chinese employees joined their Eurocopter colleagues in France to define the helicopter's characteristics. Now it’s the turn of Eurocopter's employees to reciprocate, and a staff of 30 is currently on permanent assignment in China to assist the teams with design, quality, production and procurement work.

The development and industrialization work has been equally split between Eurocopter and AVIC according to the specialties of each company. Two different helicopters will result from the common platform: The EC175 manufactured, sold and maintained by Eurocopter in Marignane and the Z15, manufactured, sold and maintained by the AVIC Group.

Missions
The EC175 is a medium-lift twin-engine helicopter that can perform many different civil missions. Initially designed for the oil & gas industry to carry work teams to the platforms, it meets the strictest safety and availability requirements that have become a must for operators in the industry.

The helicopter is also being developed for missions such as search and rescue and emergency medical transport, and can also meet the needs of the commercial aviation industry for VIP and corporate transport.

Technical characteristics
The EC175 benefits from the most cutting-edge technology available. It is powered by twin Pratt & Whitney PT6C-67E engines with dual-channel new generation Full Authority Digital Engine Controls (FADEC). With its completely new avionics, the EC175 has an effective and easy-to-use man machine interface, which considerably reduces the pilot workload. Both the pilot and co-pilot can therefore concentrate more fully on their missions. The EC175 is indeed equipped with a full screen cockpit and a digital four-axis Automatic Flight Control System (AFCS) that outperforms any other automatic pilot system on the market. It also has a five-blade Spheriflex main rotor and an airframe that complies with the most stringent certification requirements.

The EC175 offers the widest cabin of any helicopter in its category, which provides an unmatched level of comfort. The aircraft can be boarded easily using the wide sliding doors on either side of the fuselage and the immense baggage compartment is also accessible from both sides of the helicopter. All very large windows offer a great visibility and can be jettisoned so that passengers and crew can quickly exit the helicopter in the event of an emergency.

The EC175 has also been designed to reduce vibration levels to a minimum; its blade design has taken forward the concepts that have proven so successful on the EC155 and EC225. Special care has been taken to reduce both internal and external noise levels to make the EC175 the quietest helicopter in its class, offering levels well below the limits recently established by the International Civil Aviation Organization.

About Eurocopter
Established in 1992, the Franco-German-Spanish Eurocopter Group is a Division of EADS, a world leader in aerospace, defence and related services. The Eurocopter Group employs approx. 15,600 people. In 2008, Eurocopter confirmed its position as the world’s No. 1 helicopter manufacturer in the civil and parapublic market, with a turnover of 4.5 billion Euros, orders for 715 new helicopters, and a 53 percent market share in the civil and parapublic sectors.

Overall, the Group’s products account for 30 percent of the total world helicopter fleet. Its strong worldwide presence is ensured by its 18 subsidiaries on five continents, along with a dense network of distributors, certified agents and maintenance centres. More than 10,000 Eurocopter helicopters are currently in service with over 2,800 customers in more than 140 countries. Eurocopter offers the largest civil and military helicopter range in the world.